


Steve Adjusting to the 21st Century Recs

by fanrecfridays



Series: Steve/Bucky Fan Rec Fridays Masterlists [83]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel
Genre: M/M, Rec list, Steve Rogers and the 21st Century
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-26
Updated: 2019-01-26
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:34:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24869965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fanrecfridays/pseuds/fanrecfridays
Summary: This rec list was originally compiled by members of the Steve/Bucky(18+) Discord server in January 2019.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers
Series: Steve/Bucky Fan Rec Fridays Masterlists [83]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1779550
Kudos: 2





	Steve Adjusting to the 21st Century Recs

### Steve Adjusting to the 21st Century Fic Recs

 **Title:** All the Angels and the Saints  
**Why:** This one needs no introduction, but I wanted to add it even though it doesn't focus on Steve adjusting to the 21st century, because it's had so much influence on my headcanons. One of the things I like is how it shows the struggles of adjusting (especially while mourning Bucky - this is a practically-married-since-they-were-teenagers fic), but that underneath everything, Steve is still the same scrappy kid from Brooklyn, and not so depressed or grief stricken that he won't troll Natasha over her mistaken conclusions about Alice or argue with Tony about the merits of classic vs modern comedy  
**Link:** <https://archiveofourown.org/works/2439302>

**Title:** And You May Find Yourself  
**Why:** Okay, this one's cheating a little, but it's definitely Steve dealing with temporal dislocation! Early post-CA:TWS Steve, yet to reconcile with Bucky, wakes up next to Bucky in the ostensible year 2025 and has to decide whether it's real or a trap (and if he even cares, if it means he gets to be with Bucky)  
**Link:** <https://archiveofourown.org/works/7884625/>

**Title:** As Good a Place as Any  
**Why:** For anyone wanting a solid SHIELDRA fic, this one felt like actively being gutted, but it's such an incredibly good look at SHIELD/HYDRA's treatment of Steve post defrost at the Retreat, and how Bucky later views that treatment from his own experience with HYDRA. Can not reccomend this one enough.  
**Link:** <https://archiveofourown.org/works/3677331>

**Title:** the blood of the covenant  
**Why:** this is is an older fic from 2014 that touches on a lot of the little idiosyncrasies Steve would’ve carried from living through the Great Depression that I haven’t seen touched on in other fics. Also it has Sam as a narrator which is one of my favorite things.  
**Link:** <https://archiveofourown.org/works/2278401>

**Title:** The Dead Forest  
**Why:** A deliciously angsty fic, with a Steve that thinks about all the changes that has happened.  
**Link:** <https://archiveofourown.org/works/5708989>

**Title:** Easy Work for Easy Pay  
**Why:** it’s an older shrunkyclunks fic. Steve’s pretty much a little shit, and modern!Bucky is assigned to help him acclimate to the new century. Steve has his fair share of angst and depression, and the story touches tactfully on Bucky’s own combat trauma. and gosh it’s just such good slow burn. Plus art by alby!  
**Link:** <https://archiveofourown.org/works/5953900/>

**Title:** hold me until we crumble  
**Why:** the one where Steve does Antique Roadshow, ruminates on his past, and makes connections in the future (great friendship building with Sam and Natasha in this one)  
**Link:** <https://archiveofourown.org/works/3520175>

**Title:** Never Talk to Strangers  
**Why:** Really cool take on what would happen if the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. had hid Steve away for seven months after he woke up. In the fic, his return is kept a secret from the public, so when Bucky meets him on a bus he has no reason to believe it's Captain America. He does notice how lost Steve looks though. It’s really sweet and funny.  
**Link:** <https://archiveofourown.org/works/7766836>

**Title:** no matter how long the day is (i'll come home to you)  
**Why:** This is an absolutely beautiful character study of Steve coming to grips with living in the present day. Also features bookstore owner modern Bucky (with glasses!). The art by alby is icing on the top!  
**Link:** <https://archiveofourown.org/collections/sbb2017/works/11865690>

**Title:** The Originals  
**Why:** This one is slightly cheating but it does feature Steve waking up from the Valkyrie crash, only instead of the 21st century, it’s 3018. Steve still has to get adjusted and there's a whole cast of people who look like the Avengers there to help him. Really cool sci-fi hijinks ensues, also hilarity and a very heart warming and satisfying ending. While I think this fic is funny make sure you read the tags. YMMV!  
**Link:** <https://archiveofourown.org/works/12631857/>

**Title:** The Real Thing (Steve/Peggy)  
**Why:** A truly lost newly awake Steve from Tony's POV, a fic that feels so very on point and realistic.  
**Link:** <https://archiveofourown.org/works/3803107>

**Title:** Sparked Up Like a Book of Matches  
**Why:** This fic has one of my favourite characterizations of Steve and his struggle to deal with his losses in a new century with Bucky not ready to come out of the shadows for a while. Such poignant angst, I reread it often. enter a fuzzy relationship with boundaries, healthy coping mechanisms, and ones own body, plus a really precious robot. it’s just…good, and personally cathartic.  
**Link:** <https://archiveofourown.org/works/4064119>

**Title:** The S. Rogers Memorial (it’s NOT a shrine) to J. B. Barnes  
**Why:** The Avengers all come together to support Steve as he tries to make his apartment his own and adjust to this century. The dialogue is delightful and funny and very moving.  
**Link:** <https://archiveofourown.org/works/1933773>

**Title:** The Steven G. Rogers Guide to What You Missed the Last Few Years  
**Why:** Both Steve and Bucky adjusting to the future, covers slang and culture shock and advances Steve and Bucky's relationship every time they trip over a new concept. A classic of the genre  
**Link:** <https://archiveofourown.org/works/1497430>

**Title:** Steve Rogers Versus The Classics  
**Why:** how should Steve Rogers learn about pop culture reference when he doesn't know where to start? By forming a Vaguely Gay book club with a history professor of course. Bucky is the history professor. This series also features Steve exploring his identity and having major crisis through classic literatures because why not.  
**Link:** <https://archiveofourown.org/works/5787190/>

**Title:** this american life  
**Why:** Lovely snippets of Steve's life in the 21st century, mostly centering around food and cooking (and I'm just now realizing I should have recced this for the [food theme](http://stevebuckyrecs.com/discord/doku.php?id=fanrecfridays:food_of_love) awhile back, oops). It's wistful about what he lost, but also hopeful about what he found. I liked that it shows Steve as being part of a neighborhood and a community back in the pre-war era, and how he's gradually finding a new community in the new century. The Stucky content is brief and low key, but there's a really comfortable, lived in feeling to their interactions that I enjoyed, and there's also some nice friendship moments with Sam and Nat.  
**Link:** <https://archiveofourown.org/works/2597495>

**Title:** The Voyager  
**Why:** A slightly lost and newly awake Steve and modern!Bucky find each other on a epic road trip. A fic with a good balance of the funny, sad and angst Steve goes through when discovering the 21st century.  
**Why 2:** It's a combination of roadtrip AU and Shrunkyclunks that would be weird had it been written by anyone else. Notlucy's characterizations of Bucky, but especially Steve, are fascinating. I loved this version of Steve: less than a year after being thawed out/found, he is processing how much the world has changed. Notlucy writes a Steve whose quirks (his thriftiness, frex) make him feel more human to the reader. She doesn't mock him or make him so clueless that he ends up in the TSTL side of early MCU/2012 fanon one often finds in fics set around that time. And then we also meet a younger!Bucky whose life is quite reminiscent of anyone in their early 20s without making him whiny or entitled. The slow burn between Steve and Bucky was ten kinds of greatness. Even better is the What If direction the MCU timeline takes. This one was one of my fave stories in 2018 (I probably drove Lucy bonkers with all my squee about this fic) and deffo a must read imo.  
**Link:** <https://archiveofourown.org/works/14716478/>

**Title:** The Way to a Man's Heart  
**Why:** it's a lovely fic where Steve carved out a place for himself in 21st century through food and cooking. Basically it's 43k of exploring that “Steve grew up in The Depression and is now very appreciative of modern food” trope. This fic follows Steve right after Avengers ended, in the shawarma place, and diverges from there. A lot of culinary adventures in this foodie!Steve angstville.  
**Link:** <https://archiveofourown.org/works/14863409>

**Title:** you know I'd quench that thirst  
**Why:** “the tragicomic sexual odyssey of Steve Rogers, and how it begins, and then much later ends, with Bucky Barnes” A really enjoyable fic that follows Steve as he puts his new body through its paces on the USO tour and the front, and then gets defrosted to find that while he was frozen, he's become “a sexless historical symbol” who can't get laid no matter how bad he wants it. Stucky endgame, but has some lovely WW3some along the way, along with Steve/OCs, both successful and thwarted  
**Link:** <https://archiveofourown.org/works/13942362/>

### Steve Adjusting to the 21st Century Fanart Recs

I see your face around every corner: <http://thekaskproject-art.tumblr.com/post/125192281828>

Thanks to everyone who added recs for this theme!


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